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Is the Megladon shark still alive and out there somewhere?

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Erick Sims answered

No.  Megalodon went extinct about 2 million years ago, during the middle Miocene era.

One hypothesis is that megalodon was unable to adapt to changing ocean conditions.

Megalodon thrived during a time when the Earth's oceans were generally much warmer, and conditions were much more uniform.

But throughout the Miocene, the Isthmus of Panama started forming, culminating with the closure of the Central American Seaway around 3 million years ago.

This shut off any exchange between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and one consequence of this was that regions of Earth's seas became cooler.

Unlike its cousin the great white, megalodon may have been unable to evolve endothermy, or the ability to maintain an elevated body temperature, scientists say.

White sharks are able to occupy cooler waters right now from off the coast of central California to Oregon.

These cooler waters extended northward, and seals, dolphins and whales also moved farther north in latitude, but megalodon was not able to do that.

Source: National Geographic

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